International Moving / Relocation Basics
Shippers
We’d never even talked to anyone about moving a household overseas, so the overseas shipping part of the equation was even more of mystery. Here is what the shipper (often called a forwarder) should do:
- Take delivery of either a full shipping container, or a ‘liftvan’, which is a crate 1/5 the size of a container that can be placed into a container. (Since 9/11, it’s illegal to pack your own shipping container, so an authorized mover or shipper will need to do it for you.)
- Schedule a place for the full container on the next ship going to your destination port and notify you of the intended arrival date of the ship.
- Insure the safe, timely delivery of the container to the port.
- Manage government inspection and release of the goods in the port.
- Arrange with a local mover to deliver the released goods to your new residence.
- Optionally, the shipper can arrange storage of your goods at either port if the first ship is likely to arrive before you are ready for your goods.
International Movers
An international moving company provides the service of coordinating the movers and shippers for you. Typically, this is an extra service provided by a mover, but it can also be through a contractor who hires movers and shippers independently. In our case, we used a mover with the advantage that they packed our belongings directly into a liftvan in Albuquerque so our things weren’t touched again until they reached New Zealand.
Containers
One last piece to understand is the relative size of the shipping units. We saw estimating tools using square feet, cubic meters, pounds, kilograms, lift vans or containers, making it seem impossible to compare one to another. Sometimes larger units will be quoted at significantly cheaper prices than smaller ones, but be aware that you will be charged to secure the items in an underfilled container as well. Here are some basic equivalents in case you get boggled:
- One cubic meter is 35.3 cubic feet.
- A liftvan is 7.25 ft x 7.25 ft x 3.75 ft. That’s about 200 cubic feet, or 5.5 cubic meters and holds up to 2000 pounds. They can easily fit mattresses and most standard furnishings.
- A 20 foot container is 20ft x 8.5 ft x 8 ft. That’s 1171 cubic feet, or 33 cubic meters and holds up to 47,000 pounds. They should easily fit a small household of furnishings and belongings.
- A 40 foot container is just twice as long as a 20 ft and holds up to 58,000 pounds. Useful if you are trying to ship a car as well as house contents.
2. Preparing for overseas shipping
Preparing for an overseas move is more complex than even a major interstate move. Rather than several weeks, it will take a few months so you need to plan for whether it leaves before you, or arrives after you. You will be forced to specify where it’s going whether you have your new home picked yet or not. Plus, longer moves cost more so you have to reconsider the value of the things you are moving. How much are you willing to spend to keep everything you have? Will everything even be useful in your new location (where things like electricity and phones may be different)? Is this a temporary, long term or permanent move? Does it make sense to move everything, or just the essentials until you are certain you won’t be moving it right back?A great first preparation step is setting a budget. If you aren’t being moved by an employer, you probably have an upper limit of what you are willing to spend to keep everything. With a budget in hand, you will get quoted estimates from the transport companies. We cannot overemphasize the importance of starting on this at the first possible moment. As soon as you have a rough idea of your destination and your departure or arrival date, start getting quotes. Not only will these help you meet your budget, but it will improve your leverage for negotiation deals (see below) and will improve likelihood of being picked up on schedule.
In trying to avoid quotes before we were ‘ready’, we went online looking for quick quote estimates. Most companies wanted to send someone to do an estimate, but we resisted. We found a few online tools, and found that estimating the amount of stuff was challenging since typically they want you to say how many rooms you are moving, but we were planning to consolidate down to a number of boxes rather than sending rooms full of furniture. We knew we had more boxes than the average person, but didn’t know how that would translate to rooms. We now realize that we should have played along and had them come out at the first opportunity.
This article was written on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 and is filed under Mastering Skills.
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on December 28, 2008 at 11:01 pm David Powers wrote:
BeeZed,
We are planning on moving to Nelson hopefully in April, but we don’t have employment yet. We are generating alot of questions and it seems like a big mountain to climb. My wife is a physical therapist and I am a home builder in the Los Angeles area. Did you guys pick your destination or did you have the job offer first? Are there any websites that clearly lay out the steps? It is our understanding the you need a job to get a visa, but need a visa to get a job??? Any help would be appreciated, and thank you for posting the information about shipping.
David Powers
on December 29, 2008 at 3:37 pm BeeZed wrote:
Dave,
We moved to Nelson, as they say, for the lifestyle, without employment. We were approved for residency under the skilled migrant scheme, without jobs. Your wife might qualify, as health workers are in demand. Getting her licence to practice here is a huge task, and in our opinion, is best done from the States. If you are in NZ under a tourist visa and get a job offer, you can apply for residency from here, but employers might not want to take the risk if they can find someone with prior approval.
The best website is Immigration NZ as it covers all the basics and has tons of documentation for download. You can also take the quiz to see if you qualify for skilled migrant status.
Another useful site is emigratenz.org which has links to all sorts of info. The forums are good too. It is a quasi commercial site, so the information is not “bankable”, but we got some good ideas and strategies .
on February 8, 2009 at 8:49 pm mossygirl wrote:
As clearly and well explained as this is, it is hard to read it and not become overwhelmed, especially about the actual days of moving out/in and all the technical details of the taxes, fees and terms of contract/insurance. Although we are looking at our overseas move being covered by an employer, I am sure that many of the considerations here will be ones we face as well, even if we are not as fully responsible for the full bill. I am continually impressed with the amount of work, effort, planning and dedication it takes to migrate somewhere. Please keep the informative articles coming!